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Testing new stuff and breaking old stuff

Tried out my new Seirus Stormsocks and Garmin Forerunner 305 today. Did about 4 miles in the snow with temps in the teens. The socks worked very well. No coldness during the entire ride/hike. I'll definitely be putting these to use for winter riding. The Garmin 305 is incredible. A GPS and heart rate monitor in watch form. Amazing features and functionality in a small package. I mounted it to my handlebar and occasionally glanced down to see my heart rate, which went up to 171 at one point. The Garmin Connect website has a pretty good breakdown of the ride/hike. This gadget would have been an incredible tool back when I was serious about training for track and cross country. It will be very neat to use for my riding nowadays, recording tracks/routes, heart rate info, mileage, etc. I ended up hiking at the end of the ride today. My Nexus hub finally seems to have bit the dust. I've abused it fairly substantially and this older Nexus hub does not have good sealing,

Christmas Eve Day Ride

Got out for 7 miles of riding in the freshies. Not a ton of new snow, but enough to make it interesting/difficult. Very few fresh tracks, since I didn't get out til after noon, but I did have the pleasure of passing through Nordby's crash site. :-) Lesson of the day: tire pressure can seriously affect traction in winter conditions. Started at a supposed 20/20psi, ended up at 16 rear and 12 front. Way, way more traction with lower pressures. This is with Nokian 2.1" studded tires (I think Extreme 294's or something like that). I was all over the place with the higher pressure. Once I dropped things down, performance drastically improved for both climbing and descending. Oh yeah, temps were cold (17F), but I was very toasty due to effort level and complete lack of wind.

Winter Solstice Night Ride

Met up with 11 other mtbr.com members last night for a winter solstice night ride. Thanks go out to Kristian for getting the ride set up. Lots of fun, super warm temps, and good local trails. Black Pearl and Flying Dog were especially fun descents with my two Magicshines lighting the way. The sidehill snow sections on BP were pretty sketchy, but I don't think we had one 'real' crash all night. I did miss a few corners and blow through the scrub oak. Oops! Only one mechanical, also. Nordby managed to break his chain, coast home, get a replacement bike and still beat most people back to the trailhead for a couple beers. Not that that should be surprising. ;-) Sorta weird, but I've met more local riders in the last 2 weekends than the last 2 years! Of course, I probably won't recognize anyone from last night's ride, since it was dark from start to finish. It's also a bit weird to meet mtbr.com members, since people's online names often don'

Yuba Mundo...Schwing!!!

It's been a while... I'd say the knee is almost 100%, but wouldn't wanna hex myself. :-) I've managed to get out for the occasional ride the past 6 weeks or so. Most of my biking focus has been building up the new kid hauler / cargo bike. The Yuba Mundo V3. Nearly fully sorted, just need to come up w/ something for the kids feet. I installed a carbon fiber stoker bar with matching grips...stylin'. I've had the bike out for a few test rides, including a 19 mile, sub-zero night ride on trails. Worked fairly well. Some chain length issues to sort out and disc brake tuning, but otherwise...smooooooth. Riding on the back deck while hanging onto the bars is fun. :-) Specs: Mundo V3 frame - blue Mundo V3 fork (threaded) Shimano STX headset (threaded) Nitto Albatross handlebars Kalloy adjustable stem Oury Mtn grips - blue Shimano LX M581 brake/shift levers Avid BB7 185/160 disc brakes Deore/Ditchwitch wheels w/ 14mm adapters 2.4" Mutano Raptor tires XT sha

Madsen Cargo Bikes

Here's a link to one of the cargo bikes I'm interested in. Definitely also interested in the Yuba Mundo V3, which will have disk brake capability and fit big tires.

Good Session

Got out for a couple hours today w/ Tirpak. No big plans and no hurry. We rode up Flow Dog,where we stopped to chat for a half an hour with a couple other locals. Proceeded to cruise up the recently smoothed Mt Herman Rd. Scouted some trails, then came back down and did some good riding through the Preserve. Knee is doing great! The Maverick SC32 / Endo combo is sweet. Need some snow, which practically felt like it would happen today. Overcast, cloudy, and in the 50s. A pretty strange day for the end of August, but the coolness felt nice.

Schwing!

Spent about 2 hours wrenching on a friend's "new" Trek 850 today. Nice to be able to help someone out and get another bike out on the trails. Afterwards, I couldn't resist hopping on my own bike. Got out for 50 minutes of trail riding! Unbelievable how well my knee is doing. Very very psyched to get back out and feel pretty decent. Just a few little spots of achiness, but definitely still some range of motion issues to work through.

Physical Terrorist

First trip to the physical therapist today. No big deal. My knee is doing ridiculously well. Well enough that another woman who was there and had similar surgery the same day kept asking me how I could be doing so well in just one week. I dunno! Range of motion is huge now. I even played 9 holes of disc golf today w/ zero pain. Workout for the day: 10 minutes on the stationary bike 10 minutes walking backwards on the treadmill Front/back balance board Side to side balance board Squats on instability pads (like big gel pillows) Foot raises (hip twist while standing on a block) The PT said, "this is gonna be too easy." Came home after work and rode the fat bike around while the 5 year old rode her tiny bike (doing awesome) and the 3 year old rode around her tricycle (finally learning how to pedal forward). Good times!

Spin spin

Yippee...15 minutes on the trainer! Knee is doing pretty well. Yesterday felt like a bit of a breakthrough day. Range of motion is still limited, but increasing. Pain is very infrequent.

Post Op Update / Knee Pics

Pic above shows the inside of my knee. Patella, ACL, and lateral meniscus look good. Medial mensicus shows the tear in the lower left pic and then the repaired meniscus is shown in the lower right pic. The doc said he was surprised they picked up the tear in the MRI. He had to sorta pull the mensicus a bit to find the tear. Surgery went smoothly. Recovery is going fine. I asked the doc if I could get on my bike in the next few days. He looked a bit surprised and said maybe in a week or two. My knee was feeling pretty decent yesterday, but I think I was up and around a bit much. By the evening, it was getting pretty sore and swollen. I suppose I should take it extra easy today and make sure I ice and elevate the knee. I actually had more pain this morning than yesterday morning. Maybe because I had not taken the meds for about 8 hours.

Men in Stockings

I'm sitting here in stockings, about 5 hours post knee surgery. Things apparently went flawlessly and the doc found no "extra credit" work that needed to be done. I'd never had surgery before, so the whole thing was a bit interesting. No food or water starting midnight before the surgery. Show up at 9:30, get dressed in a fancy gown, they ask a pile of questions, then the write YES on the surgery knee and NO on the "good" knee with a sharpie. I told them it didn't matter, both knees could probably use some work. They hooked me up to an IV w/ electrolyte fluids. Then, I sat there for an hour or so, talk to the anesthesiologist, then the doc, then they take me into the OR at about 11:30. Strap me down on a table, have me breath through a mask, and in probably less than a minute, I was out. Next thing I know, I'm groggily waking up, totally spaced out. About 45 minutes have passed. Gone. Big wraps on my leg and they wheel me into a recovery ro

Arthroscopic surgery coming right up

Well, consultation with the orthopedic surgeon leads to...surgery next Wednesday to fix the torn meniscus . Some "looseness" of the MCL, which surgery generally won't help with. Cycling aids in the recovery process, so that is good. Just gotta avoid the crashing bit... Need to stick to the easy stuff anyway, since my hand is still pretty painful from the crash 2.5 weeks ago.

Flow Dog with the Dogs

Got out for a very short ride on Flow Dog today. Brought Marley and Tess along. Put the new Echo Trials / Nexus wheel on with the 2.7 Timberwolf. Feels much more stable and less likely to pinch flat than when I was riding the same tire on a skinny rim. Gotta build the front wheel but spazzed out and ordered straight pull spokes accidentally.
Went out for a HOT ride at lunch today. In the continuing quest for geek knowledge, I wanted to capture some more video and edit the results. I had a couple crashes, which added to the excitement, footage, and pain. I should definitely not be pushing the pace like i was, but this is why I'm constantly injured. I tried the camera on my helmet, but it was way too shaky. I put it on the bars and it was still insanely shaky, but produced some usable video. Anyway, had a good time riding, but the heel of my left hand is seriously unhappy, due to the unintentional high five I gave a big boulder during one of the crashes.

715 / Limbaugh / Flow Dog

Got out for a good ride today. More technical than it should have been, due to my knee, but I made sure to walk most of the sketchy stuff. Rode up 715, so I could check out the new trailwork by BSA and Nordby. Very nice reroute. Way more enjoyable, and should handle water much better. Where 715 hits the road at the old firing range, I crossed and went up the steep loose climb there. I managed to clean it all the way to the beginning of the descent, which surprised me. I rarely go that direction any more, choosing to drop in higher up Mt Herman Rd. Hit the meadow with high wildflower expectations, and was not let down. Flowers everywhere, above handlebar height. Very nice. Used the DZ Trail exit, walked all 4 switchbacks, plus a bunch of other stuff. Finished things off with a descent of Flow Dog and Stoopid. All in all, a very nice ride and I think my knee is no worse for the wear. Well, maybe a little sore... ;-)

Learning how to deal w/ video and new rims!

Took the Inbred out for some more Work Center riding at lunch today. For some reason, I got the idea to try a little video action. Specifically wanted to see those giant tires approaching and going over the camera. Above is my fairly lame attempt, but whatever, I'm learning a bit. Also, I received my new fattish Echo trials rims today. The front 32 hole rim is 44mm wide and weighs 783g. The rear 36 hole rim is 46mm wide and weighs 860g. These rims will be sweet for snow and ice. Hopefully, they'll make the fat tires behave a bit better for regular trail riding, too. The pic above shows a normal rim (Mavic 517) between the two Echo rims...

Flower Explosion

The super wet Spring and early Summer are bringing a great display of flowers this year. Flowers, flowers, everywhere. Despite my hosed knee, I got out for a decent ride last night with Tirpak and another good ride this morning by myself. I'm trying to stay off the real technical stuff, so I don't crash or have to plant my right leg heavily. So far so good. Even the cactus are flowering this year. Along with the flowers, the rain has blessed us with trail erosion and even serious road washouts. Mt Herman Rd is actually closed now due to a fairly substantial washout. Check it out... Over the long weekend, I headed up to the Spirit Lake Nation in North Dakota for a Baker family reunion. I managed to get in a couple rides, one of which involved trail exploration with my Dad. That also gave me the opportunity to practice my tick removal and poison ivy avoidance techniques. Yuck!

Medial Mensicus Tear...ugh

I've had bad knees for years. In the past year, they've seemed way more fragile. Soccer games can take a few days to recover from and in the past month, my right knee has really flared up. So, I told my chiropractor, who checked it out and said that it seemed like maybe an MCL tear, but more likely a medial meniscus tear. So, on his referral, I got an MRI done on Thursday. Results: obvious horizontal tear of the medial meniscus. Almost for sure getting scoped in the near future. The scary thing is that my other knee feels worse most of the time, it just doesn't have the short periods of sharp pain... It is just more consistently annoying. Gotta stay off the real technical stuff and no running. I figure I should keep the knee strong, though, and not sit on the couch, so I hit the Preserve today. Did about and hour of riding. At the trailhead, I was amazed to see zero cars. I thought that was weird. About 10 minutes later, I figured out why. The clouds rolled th

Phat Inbred

Now, that's fat! 3.7" Endomorph on a Surley Pugsley fork (100mm model). Rolls nicely over rocks at 6psi. Makes the 3.0 inch rear tire look puny. Not to mention, dwarfing a regular race tire.

Night rides in the (almost) summer...

Got out for another short night ride last night. Funny, how new equipment can make me do irrational things (like night riding on the nearly longest day of the year). Anyway, used the DX P7 bike light and the MTE M3-2 MCE flashlight on my helmet. Sick amounts of light. Definitely way huge lighting action going on. As I'm finishing my ride, my neighbor sees me coming up the dirt road... Neighbor: "Hey, aren't you afraid of the coyotes?" Me: "No, but I definitely think about the mountain lions." Neighbor: "Yeah, well right before you left, the coyotes were howling up a storm!" Great...just one more think to worry about...

New light from DX

For $80, I couldn't resist picking up this DealExtreme P7 bike light. An advertised 900 lumens and 3 hours of runtime. I'm sure it is more in the 600 lumen range, but this is still an incredible example of the progression of bike lighting. I've bought a bunch of lights from DX, so I know that I may need to resolder a connection here or there. The products are more bleeding-edge than top-notch. If this light is fairly decent, I'll have to pick up another and run it helmet mount with a Lupine config.

Bike Surfing!

No tread, fast, in the dirt... Bonehead biker will get hurt. Went out for a short ride in the Preserve w/ Cari and Jason. At the end of the ride, I did a little bike surfing, sliding down the dirt road on top of the laid down bike, with my hands out front and my knee dragging along on the dirt. Thankfully, I was wearing gloves or my hands would have been shredded. Did the cyclo commute into work, as I'll be taking Cari and Jason to the airport in a couple hours. This way, they can use the car to shop and then come by with the vehicle for us to all go to the airport. A nice cool 19 mile ride into work this morning. Wish I had more time to do the commute.

The Rock Climbing Center/ Front Range Climbing Company Adventure Race

Lianne has been jonesing to do an adventure race for quite a while.   The Rock Climbing Center and Front Range Climbing Company put on a race over the weekend that was affordable, close to home, and looked like it would be fun, so we decided to give it a shot.  The race consisted of mountain biking, orienteering, a tyrolean traverse, hiking/running, blackjack, and kayaking. It was actually a lot of fun and, to my surprise, we actually won the entire race.  There were about 70-100 people, all team entries except one soloist (who we leapfrogged back and forth with for much of the race). The start didn't go so well.  Lianne and I were messing around with last minute details.  I got impatient and rolled over to the start to see what was going on and right then everyone took off!  Lianne was about 100 yards away at the truck.  So, we essentially started in last place.  We hit the Sante Fe Trail and Lianne started to pick up the pace.  Eventually we passed everyone and were first to ch

The Hookup!

Yes, there is a trail in this picture, specifically DLS.  It's not easy to see, because it doesn't get much traffic.  Why?  Because its wickedly technical and obscure.  Sweet.   Did the DLS -> Flow Dog -> Flying Dog hookup.  Good stuff.  It is nice to get out and do some technical riding, now that I'm no longer focusing on endurance training. This week, I also got out on a Colorado Springs trail I've never done before, Williams Canyon.  Talk about awesome!  Some really nice technical riding in a beautiful limestone canyon.  Gotta get back there soon.  The entrance drop-in below the shooting range is a bit "exciting."

Mmm, Mmm Goodness

Jtek shifter in the house...the question is, "Which bike do I put this on?" What am I talking about? Elegant IGH shifting for drop, or maybe funky, bars...

Fat tire ride

Took the Inbred out for a spin today w/ the new tires installed 26x3.0 Kenda Flames! Jeez, these things are humongous. So large, in fact, that I had to put the Inbred rigid fork back on. The front tire would not fit on the Marz. I took the tires through everything the Preserve has to offer: sand, rocks, a few roots, and a tiny bit of mud. They worked fairly well. I kept dropping the pressure to see how low I could get. At low pressure, the deformation over trail obstacles is silly. I got a little too low in the rear tire, feeling the tire bottom out on a few rocks. I checked when I got back to the house and I was down to 6.0 psi front / 9.5 psi rear. The rear rim is much narrower, which may mean I need to run a bit higher pressure (in addition to the fact that most of my weight tends to be on the rear tire when going over obstacles). Anyway, it was fun. Only 6 more months til I can try the fatties out in some snow. In the meantime, I'll probably put the bike to use as a kid hauler.

Flow Dog

Here is a less traveled trail in Monument Preserve that is a bit more technical than average, but nothing crazy (like DLS). The trail provides nice connectivity between DLS/Black Pearl and Flying Dog...

18 Hours of Fruita pics

Well, it's a few days later and I'm feeling fine.  I'm even planning to head out for a ride at lunch today.  That's a good sign...no burnout.   Below are some race pics taken by Chris Tirpak.  Full set is  here . Prerace in the pit with the banner the girls made for me! Night shot below the dam and last hill Cleanish bike before the real rain hits Doing the switchbacks on the mud bike Wondering how I finished w/ 5 minutes to spare! Muddy bike after the race

18 Hours of Fruita race report

Well, it's over and done with. I'm very happy with the results: 28 laps in 17 hours and 55 minutes. That equates to somewhere around 165 miles. By far the longest mountain bike "ride" I've done in a day. The race started out dry and super dusty. You have to run from the start line up a small hill, around some trees and back to your bike. It took me about 20 seconds to find my bike once I got to the bike pile. I tried to start the run at a nice slow pace so I'd end up in the middle of the pack for the first lap or two. This meant following 40ish people and eating their dust. It was pretty crazy actually, with there being so much dust that it felt like riding through fog. I pulled the first 2 laps in 61 minutes. Pretty fast considering the run and also that I was trying to go slowly. I came through and Chris told me to slow down. I tried, but still pulled another couple quickish laps. During my 4th lap, my HID battery pack died. Aack. Finished the l

Chillin in the tent

Not all that relaxed, but ready...

The time is here

Time to get busy.  Leaving tonight for Fruita via Frisco.  Hoping to get a good night's sleep in Frisco, with no kids/dogs to wake me up in the middle of the night or early in the morning.  I have a few loose ends for packing, but I'm pretty much ready to roll. Spun a few miles in Ute today w/ Austin and Kenton.  Did some stretching afterward.  Nothing else left to do, except go have some fun in the sand and sun. The forecast is looking good temperature-wise, but a bit sketchy for precip.  There are sections of the course that are pretty much a big mess when wet.  The mud gets wicked sticky and the bike turns into a giant anchor.  I'm hoping we don't encounter those kinds of conditions.  This mud also wreaks havoc on drivetrains.  With my internally geared hub, I shouldn't have those issues, but I'd still prefer a nice dry course!

Pre-race Notes (intended for crew)

Race goals Have fun, but push myself A minimum of 18 laps (60 minutes per lap) Realistically in the 20-25 lap range Goal        Avg lap time 20            54:00 21            51:25 22            49:05 23            46:57 24            45:00 25            43:12 FYI, in past team 18 Hour of Fruita events, I was turning back to back mid 27's for the night laps... Pre race Weigh me in shorts, short sleeves prior to race 200-400 calories >= 3 hours before race (3 scoops of Sustained Energy would work) No solid food in the 3 hours prior to the race Only 16oz of fluid per hour for the 2.5 hours prior to the race. ~40oz total No fluid the last 20-30 minutes Make sure lights are ready to roll - HID on the bars and R2 flashlight on the helmet Remind me to use chamois cream Remind me to start at a super easy pace Hydration/Fuel/Electrolytes Track and make sure I'm doing something close to the following... Sustained Energy 2.5 scoops per hour Water 20-25 oz per hour Endurolytes 2-4 per

Twitter race updates / Another night ride

For anyone who wants to follow my 18 Hours of Fruita progress, or lack thereof…Chris will be sending updates via Twitter.  I may send some updates if I get a bit of downtime.  So, go create an account at twitter.com and follow ctirpak and bbaker22 .   The race starts at midnight (Friday night) and ends at 6pm Saturday. Got out for another short night ride last night.  Used the HID and R2 combo again.  Works well.  26psi is a bit too high for the rear tubeless config.  Gotta remember to go to about 24psi. The HID turns a bit over hard bumps.  Might need to put a thicker handlebar shim under the mount.  For the flashlight, I think the double Velcro strap mount is going to work well.  Last night I managed to get the light aimed up nice and high, so I won’t have to tilt my head up for 6 straight hours. Actually, I woke up to a slightly tweaked neck this morning.  This is a sorta common experience for me, but with 18 hours of biking coming up, it is not cool.  Actually, my neck prob

List of excuses

Let's just get this outta the way before the race.  Here is a list of exuses for my slacking off during the race (in order of likelihood of occurrence): My back/neck/foot/leg/elbow hurts I need to drink some of the beer before Tirpak finishes it all Sand in my shorts I'm sleepy Mechanical issues Bad weather Bad crash I'm in danger of ending up on the podium

Night ride and running outta time...

Got out last night for some night riding on the local singletrack and dirt roads.  Tried out a variety of lighting combos.  It looks like the Trail Tech hid on the bars and the Deal Extreme R2 flashlight on the helmet will be choice number one.  Although a helmet mount is key for the twisty type riding at Fruita, I actually may attempt to ride with just the bar light after a while.  I anticipate that the additional weight of a helmet mount light may start bugging my neck.  After a few laps, I imagine I'll have the course figured out, plus I've done the course many times over the past few years. Picked up a couple Geax Saguaro's yesterday.  Replaced the torn up rear Fast Trak w/ a Saguaro and set it up tubeless.  No big issues with the installation and the tire seemed to work fine for last night's riding.   I also weighed my bike last night.  Hugely piggish!  30lbs, which is probably 5lbs heavier than my KHS Team Softail.  I'll be bringing that bike as a backup.  I

A Different Perspective

This was a common view for me today! Took quite a few spills while checking out some trail connections from here... Past a bunch of these... To here... This pic is from the same location as yesterday's blog photo. Slight difference in weather, eh? Cloudy, foggy, and about 39 today. Yesterday was sunny and in the 70's. Didn't get in much mileage today, but lots of twisting and turning. :-)